by Percy E. Corbett - friendsofsabbath.org

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22 In the year A.D. 42 Emperor Claudius proclaimed in the Roman Senate that acceptance of the Druidic or Christian faith was a capital offence, punishable by death by the sword, the torture chamber or by being cast to the devouring lions in the arena at the Coliseum. This decree was inspired by fear. The rise of Christianity in Britain and Gaul was viewed with grave consternation at Rome. Rome believed from the experience of other conquests that only violent persecution would terrify the Britons into ultimate submission. George Jowett writes that the slaughter of the British Celts endured from the time of the Claudian invasion, A.D. 42, to the close of the infamous Diocletian savagery of A,D. 320. He writes "Briton is the only nation in history ever attacked by the full might of another powerful people in an effort to purge Christianity off the face of the earth. Rome sent her very best against the British legions." Caractacus was elected Pendragon to fight the Romans. He led the fight against the greatest Roman commanders for nine years. Emperor Claudius selected Aulus Plautius as the Commander-in-Chief of the British campaign. He arrived in A.D. 43 and made his headquarters at Chichester. George Jowett writes about the campaign as follows:- " "Modern historians, in dealing with the Roman invasions, completely ignore the reason for the great Roman invasion of Britain. Never once do they mention the Edict of Claudius, or explain that it was a war of religious extermination, designed to crush Christianity at its source. They write off the nine years of ceaseless warfare between Roman and Briton, led by Caractacus and Aviragus against the greatest Roman generals, as though it was of no significance. They give the impression that the British armies were driven like wild sheep before the Roman legions. Surely it takes little imagination from even a casual perusal of this campaign to realize that it would not take nine years for the Roman Empire to subdue opponents who were merely 'wild painted barbarians.' By this time Rome had conquered all the world except Britain. They had defeated mighty armies skilled in warfare and led by brilliant kings and generals. The conquered nations they had enslaved in Africa, Asia and Europe testify to their despotic brutality. The same Roman generals who had accomplished these conquests led the Roman army in Britain and failed, one after the other. With such a far-flung Empire to protect, the Roman Emperors could not afford to keep their greatest army and best commanders in Britain for nine years. Less could they afford the decimation of their veteran legions in useless combat. The enormous loss of lives on both sides sustained in many of the battles in Britain according to the records, were larger than the loss in most of the battles in World Wars I and II. Such battles do not indicate a leisurely Roman campaign in Britain. In some of the battles several of the greatest Roman generals were engaged in conducting battle strategy at one time. This was an experience never before called for of Roman generalship. . . ." "Common sense shows there could only be one reason for this long conflict. Romans met their match in military genius and in man-to-man combat a warrior ferocity that outmatched their tough veterans. The fierce fearless spirit of the British soldiering appalled the Romans. Their bravery and disdain of death shocked them. The great Agricola, engaged in the British campaign stated that it would be no disgrace if he fell in battle among so brave a people. . . ."
23 "Caractacus is given official credit as being the first general to lead a Christian army in battle in defence of the faith. As Pendragon of the British, elected by them in open council, this is true. But it was Guiderius and Aviragus, whole led the first battle against the Romans. It was they who stopped Aulus Plautius in his tracks. Guiderius was the first British King to fall for Christ. . . "No better picture can be obtained of the relentless manner in which this-war was fought, with victory swinging from one side to the other, than by reading the reports of the foremost Roman writers, Tacitus, Martial, Juvenal and others. . . With ungrudging admiration they tell how the Silurian warriors, led by Caractacus, Aviragus and the Arch Priests, swept onward in irresistible waves over the bodies of their dead and dying comrades with battling savagery that appalled the hardened war scarred veterans of the Roman legions. For the first time the Roman soldiery heard the amazing motto of the ancient Druidic priesthood transferred into a clarion Christian battle cry. "V gwir erbyn y byd" meaning "The truth against the World." It has lived through the ages and today is the motto of the Druidic Order in Wales. . . . " "Tacitus, the Roman historian, writing of the Claudian campaign that lasted for nine years, except for one brief six months' pause, dismally wrote that, although Rome hurled at the British the greatest army in her history, it failed to prevail against the military genius of Caractacus and the reckless fierceness of the British warrior. . . . " After two years of ceaseless warfare Claudius, recognising the futility of the struggle and the terrible drainage on his finest legions, took advantage of a reverse against Caractacus at Brandon Camp in A.D. 45 to seek peace through an armistice. A six month truce was declared in which Caractacus and Arviragus were invited to Rome to discuss the possibility of peace. The facts that followed prove that Claudius went to great lengths to come to satisfactory terms with the obstinate British leaders. Hoping to clinch the peace the Emperor Claudius offered to Arviragus in marriage his daughter Venus Julia and, amazing as it appears, they were married in Rome during the truce period in A.D.45. Here we have the strange instance of a Christian British King becoming son-in-law of the pagan Roman Emperor Claudius who had sworn to exterminate Christianity and Britain." During the six months truce Aulus Plautius, the Roman Commander, remained in Britain maintaining the truce on behalf of Rome. During this interval, he married Gladys, the sister of Caractacus. It is claimed that Gladys was converted, to Christianity by Joseph of Arimathea. On her marriage Gladys took the name of Pomponia, according to Roman custom. This was the name of the Plautian clan. Later, the name Graecina was added so that she was known as Pomponia Graecina Plautius. The added name was a distinctive academic honour conferred upon her in recognition of her extraordinary scholarship in Greek. As a result of this marriage, Emperor Claudius distrusted Aulus Plautius and recalled him to Rome in A.D.47. Gladys was put on trial and accused of being a Christian. The trial was recorded by Tacitus who wrote: "Pomponia Graecina, a woman of illustrious birth and the wife of Plautius who, on his return from Britain, entered the city with the pomp of an ovation, was accused of embracing the rites of a foreign superstition. The matter was referred to the jurisdiction of her husband, Plautius who, in conformity to ancient usage, called together a number of her relations and, in her presence, sat in judgement on his wife he pronounced her innocent." It was the custom, by Roman law, to give priority to the nobility to judge and settle any legal disputation where the family was concerned.
Page 1 and 2: Why Britain? by Percy E. Corbett An
Page 3 and 4: 3 I am delighted at this late stage
Page 5 and 6: 5 CHAPTER 1 PRE-CHRISTIAN BRITAIN T
Page 7 and 8: 7 The Sanctuary at Glastonbury reta
Page 9 and 10: 9 CHAPTER 2 THE CHRISTIAN MISSION T
Page 11 and 12: 11 Educationally, the Celtic Britis
Page 13 and 14: 13 "The first ground of God, the fi
Page 15 and 16: 15 "The mere possibility of the tru
Page 17 and 18: 17 certainly, the greater part perh
Page 19 and 20: 19 According to Jowett, Llyr Lledia
Page 21: 21 CHAPTER 3 THE ROMAN INVASION AND
Page 25 and 26: 25 Caractacus alone was subject to
Page 27 and 28: 27 But this little Christian band w
Page 29 and 30: 29 .CHAPTER 4 LUCIUS, CONSTANTINE,
Page 31 and 32: 31 Foxe, in his 'Acts and Monuments
Page 33 and 34: 33 "A Jesuit, P.J. Chandlery, S.J.,
Page 35 and 36: An extract from the dust sheet of '
Page 37 and 38: 37 The tradition that Joseph of Ari
Page 39 and 40: 39 Polydore Vergil, an eminent Roma
Page 41 and 42: 41 "Our researches have thus led us
Page 43 and 44: 43 William Blake - I have already r
Page 45 and 46: 45 Jameson Thomson (1700-1748) - We
Page 47: 47 travelled to Spain. Symon Breck,

by Percy E. Corbett - friendsofsabbath.org

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